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This morning after the 9am milk bottle feed, lovely Kiasa happily came out of her stockade for the first time and was warmly welcomed by some of the other orphans like Godoma, Maramoja, Tagwa, Malkia, Esampu and Tamiyoi and Malima as well. All the girls were milling around Kiasa all trying to get as close as possible to touch and pat the new little girl. Kiasa walked out with them to the bush, sandwiched between the lovely caring and protective girls. The leader of the herd, Mbegu, could hardly get close, though at one stage she did come over and check on the little girl before she went back to browsing. Still, boys will be boys and when the herd has settled out in the forest Ngilai and Lasayen tried to chase poor Kiasa and climb on her, but they were not able to achieve their goal as the keepers kept a close eye on her and so did the other protective girls in the group. Both were very quickly warned and when Ngiali spent a few minutes browsing next to Kiasa he was quickly pushed away by Maramoja, Godoma and Malkia who drove him away far off into the bushes. Kiasa was very well behaved during the public visit and remained tucked between Godoma, Kuishi, Tamiyoi and Malima throughout.

Out in the bush this morning all the orphans were browsing on the fresh green vegetation that has grown since the rains started. There were no games this morning, even from the boys who usually enjoy pushing games to test their strength against each other. There was chilly weather this morning with frequent showers which meant none of the orphans dared to go into the mud bath. Some were seen along the rope cordon trying to shelter under people’s umbrella’s! Youngsters like Musiara, Sattao, Emoli, Maisha and even Jotto ran to shelter under the Keepers’ umbrella’s when the rain got very hard. Emoli and Maisha then struggled to find shelter together with one visitor who had an umbrella. As some were searching for shelter from the rain, others like Tamiyoi, Malima, Esampu, Ambo, Murit, Godoma, Kuishi and Enkesha were playing on the soil pile; dusting, rolling and bumping into one another. In the afternoon we received a new young bull from the Tsavo Conservation Area, who had been found in a collapsed state. He was rescued and brought to the Nairobi Nursery by the DSWT helicopter and was immediately put on an IV drip to try and bring him back.

Mapia spent the night well and looked in good condition, enjoying his milk bottle and the greens as well; thus he began the new day looking pretty good. The orphans were in a very playful mood during the public visit and we watched Malima, Tamiyoi, Jotto and Esampu running and charging around, but at what we were not quite sure! As their game reached its climax, Malima and Esampu turned towards the rope cordon and bumped into the visitors standing there, who seemed to enjoy their game. The school children were more afraid and ran back shouting; having never seen an elephant before and now being face to face with one! Esampu then ran over to poor Enkesha and sat on her hard, causing Enkesha to yell out and the keepers came running over to help her.

With the ongoing drought across the whole country, ticks have become a real pest for the orphans and we work hard to control them. The application of coconut oil helps this, but new arrivals like Sapalan, Namalok, Sagalla and the little girl Kiasa are not yet used to this funny and unfamiliar procedure. Normally this application takes place on a Friday but to help control the ticks we decided to apply it today, a Wednesday, as well. The new arrivals were not at all pleased with the process and kept the keepers on their toes running all over the place to avoid the oil. In the end, they got the oil coating as well! Mapia joined the orphans later in the morning today as he is still not that well so he only joins them when they are not browsing too far away. After having his 9am milk feed with the rest of the orphans, he collapsed and was immediately set up on a drip. He got back to his feet later after a little rest and a few drips. Naughty girl Esampu is still being mean to new arrival Kiasa. Today she walked up to Kiasa as she was enjoying some green browse at the mud bath and head butted her heard without warning. It was a big push and Kiasa yelled loudly which brought the attention of Tamiyoi, Godoma, Malima and Jotto. They ran over to Kiasa to help her and find out what happened, but by the time they got there Esampu has already moved away to browse innocently. It was only the keepers who saw was happened and they told Esampu off and moved her away from the herd in punishment. Luggard decided on his own to return early to bed this afternoon around 4.30pm, and the keepers let him stay there before the others returned at 5pm.

It was a bright morning for the babies as they came out of their stockades and headed out to the forest. They were all in a happy mood and very playful. Luggard, who has looked a bit dull these past few days, was at his best this morning. He engaged Jotto in a wrestling game and then they enjoyed a game of hide and seek in the bushes. Today Tagwa went back to taking care of Sattao as well. When Tagwa moved away to take care of Maktao, Sattao didn’t seem to mind as he is not the jealous type, and just moved to spend time with Mbegu, when Ambo was not around that is. Whenever we found him with Mbegu he was suckling on her ears. But today he was back under Tagwa’s care which he seemed to be happy with. Back in the stockades, Maxwell was very happy playing with the warthogs in his stockade, chasing them around. Esampu, due to her behaviour recently, has graduated to the older herd during the public visiting time in the hope that the older females will teach her some manners, and discipline her whenever she is about to misbehave. It seemed to work and she was well behaved during visiting today. Whenever she moved around she bumped into the likes of Sapalan, and then Mteto, neither of whom would take any nonsense, so she was forced to comply and behave today. Today Kiko did not seem to want to stay out with the elephants. He kept going out to them, staying a few minutes and then back to the stockades and by the afternoon he decided just to stay in the stockade compound completely and not walk out to join the orphans again. He might have smelt lions around which made him behave like that and want to stay in the safety of the stockades.

Ndiwa is one of the orphans that doesn’t like to stay in the same spot the keepers have chosen for them to browse in. She is part of a group that likes to decide when they arrive in the forest, where they will browse. She is mostly accompanied by Mundusi, Sagala, Sapalan, Rapa, Esampu and sometimes Lasayen as well. They usually moved further into the forest and further away from the keepers, looking for their own delicious greens. Today was different however as she woke up with a limp, by either standing on some kind of thorn or by twisting it in the night. Due to this limp in her hind right leg she was unable to accompany her friends and stayed behind with the rest of the herd. With the love and care that our orphans, a family, show for each other, Malkia and Sana Sana seemed to realise her problem and instead of allowing her to browse all on her own, they decided to keep her company the whole day.

Today there was a pushing game between Kauro and Maramoja which lasted for some time before Kauro surrendered and headed into the bushes to browse. After the 9am feed as the orphans were moving out to browse, Esampu pushed poor Mapia and then ran away from the group as she knew what she had done was naughty. In the bushes, while the rest were busy feeding, Kauro, Mundusi, Rapa, Ndotto and Ndiwa sneaked away from the group and walked some distance away were they settled and started browsing peacefully. As the keepers were having their lunch this afternoon, Musiara charged at some warthogs whilst trumpeting and stamping his feet, attracting the attention of Kuishi and Godoma who came running over. The warthogs had a rough afternoon as the small group chased them around for a very long time.

It has not been usual these days for the elephants to have a mud bath in the morning and especially before public visiting time, but today proved to be different. After the 9am milk feed and as the orphans were moving out deeper into the forest, Esampu came across some warthogs and charged over to them where they had been laying in a small pool. After the warthogs moved away Esampu got into the small pool and started wallowing, which then attracted the attention of Enkesha and Kusihi. The two girls joined her and stayed rolling around in the mud for some time. Esampu and Kuishi then decided to go and browse, leaving Enkesha enjoying the mud right up until it was visiting time! Ndiwa managed to sneak away from the second group, which is her speciality, and join the first group down at the visiting area, thus she had her milk bottles slightly earlier than usual.